


My Girl!

by darkdropout



Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Kid Fic, M/M, My Girl - Japanese Drama, Parent Death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-19
Updated: 2017-08-19
Packaged: 2018-12-17 11:54:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 7,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11851044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkdropout/pseuds/darkdropout
Summary: Incomplete, often non-linear set of drabbles from a universe where Ohno has a five year old daughter he never knew about...until now. (Based off the jdrama of the same name starring Aiba Masaki!) Warning for mentions of parental death.





	1. Episode 1

**Author's Note:**

> This comes from a set of drabbles I write on my dreamwidth account. I don't really write this in any linear order, just pop up with a chapter when it strikes me! However, I've done my best to put them in some kind of timeline order on here to start with. Sorry in advance for any confusion!

“Satoshi-kun.”

Ohno startles back into consciousness with a guilty jolt. He’s not sure how long Haruka has been standing in front of him, in her fuzzy pink pajamas, watching him with that slightly unsure look on her face.

“Sorry, Haruka-chan. What’s wrong?” Ohno says, mustering as much of a smile as he has the energy for. It’s not much.

Haruka blinks at him with familiar dark eyes. Her hair rests damply against her shoulders and her small round face is scrubbed pink from her bath. She looks so much like him – so much like him that there was never a chance to question it, and not even Jun’s (somewhat vicious, albeit well-meaning) protests had died on his lips the moment he saw her.

“The bathtub wall…it fell down again,” she tells him, in her tiny sweet voice, a voice that, despite everything, shoots warmth straight into Ohno’s heart every time he hears it.

“Oh, don't worry, I’ll fix it,” he says.

It takes most of his willpower to drag himself up from the couch, but he does it, shuffling towards the bathroom in socked feet as Haruka watches him quietly.

Somehow it’s been a week, a whole week already, since Haruka appeared on his doorstep – or rather, he was sent for and appeared on hers. A five-year-old daughter that he never knew existed, her face still wet with the tears shed at her mother’s funeral, now in his custody, from now on – forever. To say that it had been a shock for him seems almost laughably naive now.

Well, who could ever be prepared for something like this?

Fixing the bathtub wall quickly turns into the usual epic, rather loud and surprisingly vocal, battle pitting the strength of self-determination against the laws of gravity. When Ohno finally returns to the living room, Haruka is still standing where he left her, but her expression is no longer so wary.

She’s giggling.

“What’s so funny?” Ohno grumbles, wiping the sweat from his brow with the back of his wrist.

Haruka smiles, and when she does her nose scrunches up happily. It’s like looking into a five-year-old mirror.

“Satoshi-kun is amazing!” she tells him.

“You think so?” Ohno asks her, unable to keep the surprise from his voice. He doesn’t think anyone has ever called him amazing before. Useless, sure. Strange, always. But amazing?

“Mm,” she says, nodding resolutely. “The most amazing.”

Ohno kneels down in front of her so that they’re face to face. He reaches out to pat her, awkwardly, on the top of her damp head.

“I think Haruka-chan is the most amazing,” he tells her and means it wholeheartedly. After all, she must be amazing if she’s somehow managed to survive a week in his care.

She beams at him, tiny fingers curling into the sleeves of her fuzzy pink top. Ohno lets his hand drop to her cheek, which he pokes playfully, his chest constricting with a feeling that he’s only just started to recognize as affection.

“Do you – want me to read you a bedtime story?” he asks her.

Her eyes widen, so full of hope and excitment that Ohno suddenly feels guilty this is the first time he's thought to offer.

“Yes!” she shouts, and before they can discuss it any further, she turns on her small ladybug slipper-ed heels and scurries off towards the bedroom as fast as she can.

Ohno stands up, shaking his head in amusement. He’s about to follow after her when something occurs to him. He stops to glance around the room, wondering where he could find something like a bedtime story in a house full of mail-order catalogues and fishing magazines.

Maybe he can wing it - make something up as he goes along.

The Adventures of GT-Taro sounds pretty good, in his head.


	2. Episode 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The next few chapters jump backwards in time to before Haruka moved in with Ohno. In this chapter, Ohno's landlords, Jun and Mao, learn about Haruka for the first time.

“A _daughter_?”  
  
“Jun, quiet," Mao scolds. "He’s obviously in shock."  
  
She shoves Jun back a step so that he’s less imposing as he fumes. Ohno isn’t really one to cower, but he appreciates the gesture anyway.  
  
Jun is not so easily perturbed. He leans across the counter, the untied strings of his apron flapping angrily at his sides. “How do you know she’s yours? What’s the _proof?”_  
  
Ohno shrugs. It's not that he didn't expect Jun to have this type of reaction, not with Jun's nature, not with Jun's circumstances, but Ohno had still held on to a small hope that he would react to the news with something a little less dramatic like a "Oh, that's nice!" and let Ohno get on with his increasingly bizarre day.  
  
“I don’t know," Ohno says. "But that’s what the phone call said. They said that I should come tomorrow to get her.”  
  
If Jun was a cartoon - and Ohno has very often imagined him as one over the past ten years of their acquaintance, with the secret sketches to prove it - there would be smoke coming out his ears. “So you’re just supposed to drop everything and come running for some supposed daughter that you never once heard of the existence of in five years?”  
  
“She – her mother is dead. Takako is dead," Ohno replies, softly, the reality of what he's saying only now hitting him as he repeats it outloud for someone else to hear. _Takako is dead._ "I’m the next of kin. They said there’s no one else.”  
  
Jun shows no appearance of sympathy, though Ohno knows him well enough to know it's in there somewhere. “Well putting aside the fact that there is no evidence at all that she’s yours, no one in their right mind, living or dead, would let you raise a child.”  
  
“Jun,” Mao cuts in, sharply. “That’s not fair.”  
  
For a moment, Ohno is completely silent as the weight of Jun's words - as the truth of them - settles in.  
  
“He’s right. I don’t know anything about kids.”  
  
Jun sighs, eyes closed as he runs a hand through his hair. He grips the towel thrown over his shoulder - the towel he always has there when he's working - and throws it down onto the counter top. When he looks up at Ohno again, his expression is no softer, no more compassionate than before. But Ohno doesn't miss the apologetic look in the dark sheen of his eyes.  
  
“We’ll support you, of course,” he says, frowning deeply.  
  
Ohno smiles, just a little, and dips his head. “Please support me.”  
  
Jun nods his head, reaching behind himself to finish tying on his apron. “What’s this kid’s name anyway?” he asks in an afterthought.  
  
“Ah,” Ohno says, scrambling for the answer. "Um. Haruka."  
  
"Hm. Cute," says Jun and turns back to his coffee beans.  
  
*  
  
Mao follows Ohno out into the front hall, grabbing onto his elbow before he can escape upstairs.  
  
“Oh-chan, ignore him," she says, giving a comforting squeeze. "You know why he’s being a grump.”  
  
“It’s okay," says Ohno, honestly.  
  
"I think it's great that you're going to get to meet your daughter," says Mao. "Jun's just - " She bites her lip to catch her fond smile. “He’s the one who would be a terrible dad.”  
  
Ohno shakes his head at that. “He’d be a great dad.”  
  
Mao lets go of his elbow. “Yeah, well. He would have been, right?"  
  
She turns away, but not fast enough to keep Ohno from catching a glimpse of the heartbroken look on her face. She recovers herself quickly though, turning back with a cheeky grin.  
  
"Too bad you're the closest thing to a son he'll ever have.”  
  
Ohno pouts. "I'm older than him!"  
  
Mao reaches up and smacks him on the shoulder. “And yet, somehow, despite all the odds being against such young parents raising such an old man, you still turned out all right!"  
  
Ohno keeps pouting.  
  
She laughs and smacks him again, a little harder, and so affectionately. "You’ll be a great dad too! Do your best!”


	3. Episode 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Ohno first meets Haruka

Despites Jun’s best efforts to bully his way into accompanying him, Ohno goes alone to meet Haruka for the first time. It’s a long way to go on his bike, halfway across the city, but the ride helps to settle his nerves, gives him time to think - and to prepare himself.  
  
An hour later, he's standing on an unfamiliar doorstep as the lawyer, an unremarkable man in an unremarkable suit, greets him.  
  
“Ohno-san, thank you for coming on such short notice,” he says with a bow.  
  
Ohno bows back, hastily wiping the sweat from his brow, before slipping off his scuffed sneakers in the genkan.  
  
“Haruka-chan has just returned from the funeral service,” the lawyer explains in a low voice as he leads Ohno inside. "As I mentioned on the phone, I have explained to her that you are her only family now and that she will be going home with you."  
  
Haruka is sitting alone in front of the sliding glass door, looking out into the garden. It’s her back that Ohno sees first – the small, hunched shoulders, the dark hair piled into two small buns on the top of her head. Her knees are tucked up into her chest, and she's rocking slightly, back and forth.  
  
“Haruka-chan,” the lawyer says gently.  
  
There is no response.  
  
“Haruka-chan,” he tries again.  
  
Still nothing. He gives Ohno an apologetic glance, then clears his throat.  
  
“Your father is here to take you home," he says this time.  
  
It happens so fast that Ohno sees only a small, child-shaped blur before he’s being bowled over, his feet knocked out from underneath him and his back hitting the floor with a painful thump.  
  
“Satoshi-kun!” sobs a little voice as two dark, tear-filled eyes blink at him from above.  
  
Ohno looks back up at her. His heart clenches in his chest.  
  
_Oh,_ he thinks as her tears splatter down on him like rain drops. _My daughter._


	4. Episode 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Continuation from the first time Ohno meets Haruka

Ohno's bike doesn't have a seat, or a helmet, or anything else to transport a child with so they take a taxi home, the bike sticking precariously out of the vehicle’s trunk. Haruka is silent the entire drive. Ohno is silent too. He doesn’t know what to say, wouldn’t know even if she wasn't a child.  
  
Now that he thinks of it, Ohno has never been alone with a child before.  
  
When the taxi pulls up in front of the house, he glances hopelessly into his wallet.  
  
“Haruka-chan,” he says, turning to the still silent little girl beside him and giving her an uncomfortable smile. “Can you wait here for me while I go to get some money?”  
  
Haruka hesitates, then nods her head, but Ohno is already giving a quick apology to the driver as he hurries out of the backseat.  
  
The coffee shop is empty except for Mao standing behind the counter.  
  
“Mao-chan,” Ohno says in relief, glad to see her and not her husband. “Mao-chan, can I borrow 2000 yen?”  
  
Mao gives him a curious look as she opens the till. “I thought you were going to get Haruka-chan?”  
  
“I was,” Ohno says, nodding in thanks as Mao hands him the money. “I did. She’s here. In the taxi.”  
  
Mao’s eyes widen. “You left her in the taxi by herself?” She reaches across the counter and smacks him on the arm. “Don’t stand here chatting with me then. Go!”  
  
Ohno nods, rushing off again, only a little more flustered by the scolding than he is already.  
  
Haruka is still waiting for him when he returns, right where he left her in the backseat. He apologizes again to the driver, pays him, and somehow manages to unwedge his bike from the trunk without too much of a scene. He can feel Mao watching from the door to the coffee shop as he leads Haruka inside, but he doesn’t stop to speak to her again on their way upstairs.  
  
Ohno's apartment is on the second floor. It's a little big for one person, and Ohno shouldn't really be able to afford it on his choreographer's assistant salary, but Matsujun gives him a break on the rent in exchange for almost free rein to meddle in Ohno's personal life - at least until now.  
  
Ohno drops Haruka's bag on the floor by the door and props his bike against the wall.  
  
"Welcome home," he says more to himself out of habit than to the little girl slipping off her small pink sneakers in the genkan beside him.  
  
They stand there for a long moment, just inside the door - Ohno at a loss for what comes next, Haruka still silent, her small face tear-stained and uncertain.  
  
“Are you hungry?” Ohno asks her eventually. When she doesn't answer, he keeps trying - he has no choice but to keep trying. “Are you tired? Do you want to take a bath?”  
  
Haruka shakes her head. “I want mama,” she says, and she sounds desperate, as if her heart is breaking. In the blink of an eye, she's crying again, in small, hiccuping sobs that make her tiny shoulders shake from the force of them.  
  
Ohno feels like crying too. A daughter, he tells himself again, a daughter.  
  
What in the world is he going to do with a daughter?


	5. Episode 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Single Papas Club

Haruka is so much like him, sometimes it seems impossible that they’ve lived apart until now.  
  
("She's just like you!" Mao had insisted only yesterday, elbowing Jun hard in the side in her enthusiasm. "It's so cute, right?" "More like creepy," Jun had mumbled, and Mao's eyes had glowed with mischief as she elbowed him again, Jun's face full of betrayal as she said, "That's not what you said last night!")  
  
Cute or creepy, Ohno can't deny that so far, in this short time since Haruka fell into his lap and into his life, it has only become increasingly apparent that she _is_ just like him. Among other implications, at the very least it means that Ohno can understand her maybe better than he should - or at least better than he expected.  
  
Which is why today he knows that something is amiss.  
  
Haruka had put on a brave face this morning as Ohno had unskillfully packed her bag, and asked her awkwardly if she knew how to put on her hat by herself. Once they’d left the house, her expression had immediately turned stubborn. She’d walked silently beside him, looking straight ahead with determination.  
  
Ohno knows that look well - has been accused of wearing it himself since he was at least her age. Even so, he can't help but be impressed that she makes it all the way to the school's front gate before it waivers, before it falls.  
  
She grabs the edge of his sleeve.  
  
“Satoshi-kun,” she whispers, with great anxiety. “I don’t want to go to school. I want to stay with you.”  
  
Ohno tries not to feel too triumphant for so easily understanding the meaning behind the increasingly obstinate look on her face. There's not much to feel good about when he hasn't the slightest idea what to _do_ about it. Her grip on his sleeve grows tighter and tighter as he tries to think of what to say.  
  
What did his mother do when he said the same thing to her?  
  
He can't even remember.  
  
He's still searching for the answer when his thoughts are interupted by a screeching giggle. Before he can turn to look, a little girl in a yellow cap, her braids whipping through the air behind her, comes whizzing past them so fast it nearly knocks Ohno off his feet. He’s just recovering his balance when he's hit from behind by something much larger than a kindergartner.  
  
“Sorry, sorry, sorry!” says a male voice, grabbing Ohno by the shoulders to keep them both upright. There’s a nervous trill of laughter and Ohno turns, then looks upwards, directly into a blindingly friendly smile.  
  
“Sorry!” the man with the smile says again with another laugh. He takes a step back so that Ohno doesn't have to look so far up anymore. “Oh!" he says. "You’re new here!”  
  
Ohno nods his head.“Yeah.”  
  
“Hi! I’m Aiba! Welcome to our school! Sorry about my daughter, Momo-chan, she's a little energetic today.”  
  
He turns and waves toward the line of school children that has formed near the school entrance and the little girl with long braids beams and waves back. "Masaki-papa!" she calls, giggling when he pulls a silly face at her in response.  
  
He turns back, looking at Ohno expectantly.  
  
“Oh, um, I’m Ohno," Ohno says. He looks down at Haruka who is still standing, stoic and still, beside him. “My – I’m with – She’s – Haruka-chan.”  
  
“Hi Haruka-chan! Nice to meet you!” Aiba says, immediately crouching down to greet her. “Are you excited for your first day?”  
  
Haruka blinks at him, her face an expressionless mask.  
  
This doesn't seem to bother Aiba at all. “Are you in Sho-sensei’s class?” he asks.  
  
She remains silent.  
  
“I think so,” Ohno offers, without confidence. “Probably?”  
  
Aiba nods indulgently, grinning. “Hey, Haruka-chan. Momo-chan is in that class too! She would love to be your friend! Will you go stand with her and she can show you your new school?”  
  
Again Haruka does not answer. After a long pause in which Aiba continues to beam at her, she glances up at Ohno.  
  
“That’s a great idea,” Ohno tells her, summoning what forced enthusiasm he can muster on the spot. “Haruka-chan, I’ll see you later.”  
  
He reaches out, about to pat her on the top of her head, then decides against it, his hand dropping back down to his side.  
  
“Come on, I’ll introduce you,” says Aiba, taking Haruka’s hand.  
  
Ohno can only watch as Aiba walks her over to the line of children. It looks so easy, so natural, when he watches this complete stranger do it. When Aiba reaches Momo, he pulls her into a hug, taps her on the cheeks and reach down to retie one of her shoes. _Impossible,_ Ohno thinks. _Completely impossible._  
  
When Aiba has finished introducing Momo and Haruka - Momo grabbing eagerly onto Haruka’s hand when her father lets it go - he returns to Ohno’s side.  
  
For a moment, they stand in silence, watching Momo chatting happily at Haruka despite Haruka’s continued unresponsiveness.  
  
Then Aiba speaks. “It’s weird right? Being a dad."  
  
“Yeah,” says Ohno. _Impossible_ , he thinks again.  
  
Aiba nods, reaches up to scratch at the back of his neck a little self-conciously. “Raising a little girl alone is hard work for men.”  
  
Ohno pulls his gaze away from Haruka, looking at Aiba with confusion. “How did you -? That I’m -?” he asks, perplexed.  
  
Aiba shrugs. "I had a feeling." He nods towards Momo. “It’s the same for me. It's been just the two of us - Momo-chan and me - for three years now.”  
  
“Three years?” Ohno sputters, suddenly overwhelmed with the thought that Haruka will be with him for three years, _more_ than three years - a lifetime! _Impossible!_  
  
His face must show his sudden panic because Aiba smiles gently, reaching out to clap Ohno on the shoulder with a little too much force. “Don't worry, don't worry! It gets easier. If you want, I can show you how to do braids. I’m pretty good at them! Hey, you can even join my Single Papas Club!"  
  
"Eh?" says Ohno, weakly.  
  
"Well, so far I'm the only member,” Aiba clarifies, a bit shyly. "But what do you say? You can be Member #2!"  
  
Somewhere from inside the school, a bell rings and Aiba turns to wave goodbye to Momo-chan as she skips towards the entryway, a once again stubborn-looking Haruka in tow. While he's waving, Ohno glances down at his watch.  
  
“Ah!” he yelps. “I’m late for work!”  
  
"It was - ah - nice to meet you?" he says as he bows hastily in Aiba’s direction before taking off at a unceremonious jog for the front gate.  
  
“Bye, Ohno-kun!" Aiba calls after him. "Do your best, okay! Oh, and make sure to pick Haruka-chan up from school on time – being late is a big no-no! Sho-sensei is scary!”


	6. Episode 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ohno and Nino meet

Ohno is rushing. Mao has called his phone three times in the past half an hour and he can feel his phone vibrating again in his pocket even now. He should have been home to pick up Haruka long before now, but work had run late and he hadn't had any excuse good enough to get his boss to let him leave early. When he'd finally escaped, there was still shopping to do. Even if Mao has taken pity on Haruka and fed her already, she'll still need something to eat for breakfast tomorrow, and something to take to school for lunch, and something to have for dinner when she gets home. It's an endless cycle.  
  
For the billionth time, he thinks to himself, isn't being a parent too hard??  
  
The combini is mostly empty at this time of night and Ohno zooms down the aisles, throwing things into his basket haphazardly. He should be almost finished collecting everything - vaguely everything, since he never thinks to make a list, are parents supposed to make a list before they go shopping? With this thought in his head, he turns down the last aisle without looking and promptly crashes into someone. He crashes so forcefully that before he can catch himself he's toppling backwards, his basket of items tumbling to the floor and scattering around him.  
  
“Whoa, you okay?” asks a voice and Ohno looks up to see the person he ran into standing above him with a concerned look on his face.  
  
“Yes,” Ohno mumbles. “Sorry.“  
  
“No worries. I couldn’t hear you coming anyway,” says the guy in front of him, tapping the large headphones he's pulled from his ears. He gives a friendly smile and crouches down to help collect Ohno’s spilled items.  
  
Ohno, still dazed from the fall, can only watch. The guys is young-looking, with dark hair cropped short and shaggy around his face. The headphones now resting around his neck are bright blue, almost as big as his entire head, and have the markings of a luxury brand. When the guy leans forward, Ohno's attention is drawn to the small round tip of his nose - somehow, _adorable_ is the first word that comes to his mind.  
  
“You’re Ohno-san, right?” the guy asks, casually.  
  
Ohno can only nod dumbly, a little disappointed when the guy lifts his head and Ohno can no longer stare at his nose. But then he's smiling again and the mischievous curl of his lips makes Ohno's throat a little dry.  
  
“Thought so," he says. "You work at JStorm Studios. I’ve seen you around before.”  
  
He picks up a box of toothpaste and it's then that Ohno notices how he's been taking his time refilling Ohno's basket, stopping to study each shopping item curiously before he returns it to its place. He's opened his mouth as if he's about to keep talking at the same time as he's reaching for the package of little girl’s underwear that's fallen from Ohno's purchases.  
  
He stops, eyebrows rising up in surprise.  
  
“Wow," he says.  
  
That's enough to finally snap Ohno out of his daze. He scrambles forward in a panic, snatching the package of underwear back. “That’s not for me," he says in complete mortification.  
  
The guy stares at him for a moment, then laughs. “I didn’t think it was your size," he says agreeably.  
  
He stands, dusting off his pants, and watches with amusement as Ohno shoots up beside him.  
  
“I’m Nino,” the guy says as Ohno shoves the underwear into the bottom of his basket, underneath the bottle of Hello Kitty "No Tears, No Tangles" shampoo and a box of strawberry-colored toilet paper. “Can I have your contact information?”  
  
Ohno blinks. Then blinks again, unsure if he's heard correctly. “Eh?” is all he can manage to reply.  
  
“Your contact info,” Nino repeats patiently, eyes twinkling.  
  
“The underwear isn’t for me!” Ohno insists again, in distress. Mao and Jun will kill him if this guy calls the cops and they have to bail him out of jail. They will _kill him_. “You – you don’t have to report me or anything.”  
  
Nino laughs again, although this time it's closer to a giggle of delight. He holds out his hand. “Give me your phone,” he says authoritatively.  
  
Ohno has his phone out before he even realizes what he's doing. Jun has always scolded him for being too M, but this is bad even for him. Unfortunately, it's too late to snatch the phone back. Nino is already typing away on it and a few seconds later something - his own phone - vibrates visibly in Nino's front pocket.  
  
“Got it, thanks,” Nino says, handing Ohno back his phone.  
  
“Why - why do you need my contact number?” Ohno asks weakly, wondering if the police will believe that he has a daughter without any proof - will they have to bring Haruka down to the station? Will she be traumatized for life to know her father has been arrested as a pervert? Will he have to pay for her to get therapy on his meager assistant's salary?  
  
“So we can go on a date,” Nino replies easily like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.  
  
He grins again in the face of Ohno's look of total shock, though what he can't see is the warm thrill that his words send tingling across Ohno's skin.  
  
 _A date?_  
  
Before Ohno can say anything, can even think of what he should say, Nino is slipping his headphones back over his ears.  
  
“See ya, Oh-chan!” he says with a wave and walks away.  
  
~  
  
 _Takako is standing across from him. There's sun in her hair, and a smile on her face, and he will never see her again but he doesn't know it yet. 'See ya, Oh-chan,' she says, waving at him, like she always does, before she turns and walks away from him - walks away from him forever._  
  
~  
  
Ohno is left standing alone in the middle of the combini aisle, basket full, and heart completely empty. Then his phone rings again, and he looks down to see Mao's number fill the screen.  
  
That's right, he thinks, there is someone waiting for him. There is someone depending on him.  
  
Haruka.  
  
He answers the call. "Sorry I'm late, Mao-chan. I'll be there in ten minutes. Tell Haruka, I'll be there."  
  
As he hurries off to the check-out, his heart doesn't feel so empty anymore.


	7. Episode 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ohno and Nino's first date

A few days later, Ohno is watching with amusement as an enthusiastic Momo drags a less-enthusiastic Haruka into school, when his phone beeps in his pocket.  
  
_From: That Cute Nino Guy_  
 _Subject: Date ♥_  
 _Oh-chan, let’s eat ramen together~ Tomorrow night??_  
  
Ohno nearly drops the phone. He hadn’t forgotten the guy with the adorable round nose he’d crashed into in the combini, but he hadn’t really expected to hear from him again either. _“So we can go on a date,”_ he'd said when he’d taken Ohno’s contact info – but Ohno hadn’t thought he meant it.  
  
Ohno is still staring at the screen with mixed emotions when Aiba comes jogging up, wheeling his bike beside him.  
  
“What’s up, Ohno-papa?” Aiba asks cheerfully, then notices the startled look on Ohno’s face. He follows Ohno’s gaze down to the phone, then looks back up at Ohno in concern. “Is something wrong?”  
  
“Someone asked me out on a date,” Ohno hears himself answer.  
  
"Ah!" Aiba yells out, beaming. “A date! That’s great!”  
  
Ohno nods his head slowly, though he's not sure he agrees. Is it great? It's been so long since he's been on one, so long since –  
  
Aiba interrupts his thoughts before they can continue. “Luuuucky!” he sighs. “When are you meeting up?”  
  
“Tomorrow," Ohno says. He looks up from his phone, past Aiba to the school where children are still streaming in through the front door. "But – I can’t. It’s a school night. Even if I get out of work on time, Haruka-chan will – ”  
  
Aiba’s bike clatters to the ground. A group of nearby children shriek in terror at the unexpected sound, and Aiba dips his head in apology to their parents a few times before he turns back to Ohno with a concerningly serious look on his face. “I’ll take her," he says.  
  
Ohno looks at him in surprise. "Eh?”  
  
“I’ll take her,” says Aiba again. "Haruka-chan – I can take her." He straightens up to his full height, at least several inches over Ohno's head, and places a hand over his heart dramatically. "As a fellow member of the Single Papas Club, it is my sworn duty to help you get laid!"  
  
Ohno suddenly feels a little lightheaded. “Laid?!” he half-whispers, in alarm. “I don’t – that’s not – “  
  
“It’s Rule Number 1!” Aiba insists with great passion.  
  
“I thought Rule Number 1 was tell everyone how awesome Single Papas Club is?" says Ohno.  
  
“That is Rule Number 1, but I just changed it!" Aiba says. His left eye twitches in a way that looks painful and it takes Ohno a moment to realize it must be an attempt at a wink. “I can pick up Haruka-chan from school when I get Momo-chan and she can come to our house and stay the night! Momo-chan will be so happy! She’s always wanted a sister.”  
  
“But –” Ohno starts, weakly. _I'm not even sure I want to go on a date_ , he tries to say – except that, in the face of Aiba's enthusiasm, it's hard to get the words out.  
  
“Let me do this for you, Ohno-kun," says Aiba. He puts a hand on Ohno's shoulder and squeezes sincerely. “Let’s do this for all the single papas of the world.”  
  
Ohno can only nod. “I’ll ask Haruka-chan if she wants to first.”  
  
*  
  
They're halfway through the store-bought bentos Ohno's brought for dinner when he finally works up the courage to ask.  
  
“Hey, Haruka-chan,” he says, a bit awkwardly. “Would you like to go stay over at Aiba-chan and Momo-chan’s house tomorrow night?”  
  
Haruka stops eating, her brow furrowed seriously as she looks across the table at him. “Like a sleepover?” she asks.  
  
“Mm,” says Ohno, trying to sound casual. “Like a sleepover.”  
  
“Does Satoshi-kun have to work late?” Haruka asks him.  
  
Ohno looks down at this bento, bracing himself. He doesn't like to lie, not to anyone, and especially not to Haruka – but what else can he say? Even if he tries to explain...  
  
“I have a meeting," he tells her, then adds quickly, "But if you don’t want to stay there, it’s okay, I won't go.”  
  
Haruka is quiet for a long while, thinking things over at her own pace in a way that is all too familiar to Ohno himself. He waits for her answer and tries not to hold his breath.  
  
After a few minutes, she shakes her head.  
  
“I want to go to Momo-chan’s house,” she says with a smile.  
  
"Good," says Ohno. He's not sure if he's relieved or disappointed. He smiles back anyway.  
  
  
Once Haruka and Sen-chan are tucked into bed, Ohno finds his phone.  
  
_To: That Cute Nino Guy_  
 _Subject: re: Date ♥_  
 _Okay_  
  
*  
  
The last time Ohno went on a proper date (or any kind of date, if he's honest) was with Takako. It had been her birthday and he’d actually remembered, even gone so far as to take her to a fancy restaurant and buy her a respectably appropriate gift.  
  
Takako had laughter herself silly over the entire thing, but when she’d thanked him at the end of the night it had still been sincere.  
  
It was only a month later that she’d said, “Let’s break up, okay? I’m not what you want.”  
  
He’d cried when she said it, and hadn’t stopped crying until she was long gone.  
  
She had been right though. He loved Takako with all his heart, but he hadn’t been in love with her. And after she left, he could finally admit that he’d never been in love with any woman.  
  
But admitting that and acting upon it had been two entirely different things, and besides a few extremely inept one night stands when he’d managed to get himself picked up, for the last five years Ohno's romantic prospects had remained nonexistent.  
  
Until, maybe, tonight.  
  
Nino is waiting for Ohno at the train station when he arrives. He’s leaning against the wall with his big blue headphones on, but when he sees Ohno coming he grins and pulls them off from around his neck, shoving them quickly into his bag.  
  
“Hi,” says Nino, a little eagerly. “Oh-chan, you came.”  
  
Ohno dips his head politely. “Thank you for inviting me.”  
  
When he looks up, Nino is smiling that mischievous smile again. He reaches out and grabs Ohno by the jacket sleeve. “Let’s go eat,” he says.  
  
The restaurant they go to is tiny, stuck at the very end of an alley that Ohno has never been down. When they enter, the grandma behind the counter rushes out to greet Nino warmly, fussing over him and scolding him for how pale she says he's gotten since last time she's seen him. Nino recieves her attention dutifully, only whining a little when she says she's going to bring him an extra portion of his order.  
  
"You can't charge me for it!" Nino calls after her as she disappears into the kitchen after ushering them towards one of many empty tables.  
  
Nino gives Ohno a shy smile. “Have you been here before?” he asks and Ohno shakes his head.  
  
Once they're settled in their seats, it falls silent. With Nino sitting across from him, looking at him with expectation, Ohno has no idea what to do or what to say. He's never been praised for his conversation skills, and after so long out of the dating scene, he isn't even sure what people talk about on a first date anymore, if he ever knew to begin with.  
  
But Nino doesn't seem to have any such worries. He smiles again, this time showing the pink of his gums, and Ohno is suddenly, inexplicably, much more at ease.  
  
“You got out of work okay?” Nino asks, leaning forward on the table between them and resting his chin in his hand.  
  
“Yes,” Ohno answers – then remembers what Nino said to him the first time they met. "How did you know I work at JStorm?” he asks, curiously.  
  
Nino grins, looking pleased with himself. “I’m a freelance composer. I work a lot with choreographers so I’m usually hanging around the building. I saw you a few times, dancing in the studio. You’re really good.”  
  
Ohno shakes his head. “I’m just an assistant," he says, brushing off the compliment before it can stick to him.  
  
Nino raises his eyebrows in disbelief. “Really? I thought you were higher up.”  
  
Ohno can only shrug, somewhat helplessly. “Not yet,” he says. _Not ever_ , he doesn't say.  
  
"Coulda fooled me with those dance moves," says Nino.  
  
He puts one hand behind his head, elbow bent, while the thumb and forefinger of his other hand take the shape of an "L" which he waves above his head. Ohno knows the dance he's refering to immediately and, much to Nino's delight, he laughs so hard at the demonstration that tea comes out of his nose.  
  
Nino spends the rest of the evening trying to get him to do it again.  
  
*  
  
Nino is funny and clever and a little bit sarcastic. He's good at talking and good at listening too. When he laughs, he hides his face in the crook of his elbow, and when he smiles, his eyes sparkle in a way that is kind of dazzling.  
  
Before Ohno realizes it, they've finished their meal and the check has arrived. Ohno doesn't remember offering to pay, but somehow his wallet is out on the table anyway, and Nino thanks him with a suspiciously smug look on his face. By the time they step back out on the street, the sky has darkened, and it's chilly enough to have Nino pulling his coat collar up around his ears.  
  
For a moment, they just stand there, looking at each other. Then Nino speaks.  
  
“Hey, Oh-chan,” he says, quietly, conspiratorially. “I kinda wanna bring you back to my place.”  
  
Ohno is sure, absolutely sure, he's misheard. _"Huh?_ "  
  
“I'm inviting you over,” Nino says. "I want you to come over."  
  
He leans in close this time, and Ohno can see the way his cheeks have gone pink with the cold, the way his eyes have gone dark with something else. Ohno feels an electric thrill run down his spine.  
  
Before he can open his mouth to reply, his phone buzzes loudly in his coat pocket. He jumps, startled.  
  
"Sorry!" he says and Nino shrugs, eyes as dark as ever, cheeks pinker and pinker in the nighttime air.  
  
Ohno tears his eyes away from Nino's face long enough to fish his phone out of his pocket and see the screen lighting up with Aiba’s number. A mail appears.  
  
_From: Aiba-kun_  
 _Subject: AHHHHHHH_  
 _HARUKA-CHAN THREW UP EVERYWHERE I DON’T THINK SHE LIKED THE MABO TOFU ICE CREAM I MADE SORRY OHNO-KUN COME QUICK_  
  
Ohno looks back up at Nino with dismay. “I have to go,” he says to Nino, voice a panicked slur. "It's an emergency."  
  
Nino's smile drops.  
  
“Okay. Sure,” he says, and though it's clear he's trying not to sound disappointed, it's a failed attempt.  
  
“Sorry,” Ohno says again, feeling extremely sorry, even above the sudden adreniline-like rush of anxiety at Aiba's message. “It’s – I have to.”  
  
“I get it,” says Nino, waving him off. “Work emergency. Can’t be helped.”  
  
“Right,” says Ohno, unable to correct Nino's assumption. He thinks there must be more to say, but all he can think of is Haruka – Haruka needs him, and his heart is racing with the urgent need to get to her as fast as he can.  
  
"Night, Oh-chan!" Nino says with a nod of his head.  
  
Ohno nods back, then turns and takes off down the street at a full run.  
  
*  
  
He's already waved down a taxi and given the driver the address when he feels his phone buzzing in his hand again. He expects it to be Aiba, replying to Ohno's message that he's on his way. But it's not.  
  
_From: That Cute Nino Guy_  
 _Subject: Next time_  
 _Since you left early, you owe me!! Are you free next week?? (^* ω .*^ ) We can order delivery~ ♥_


	8. Episode 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This skips forward a little - probably a few weeks after their first date.

When the door bell rings, Haruka-chan is already in bed. Ohno should be in bed too with how exhausted he is, but instead he's been sitting at the kitchen table for at least an hour, working diligently on perfecting the onigiri he's made for Haruka's bento for tomorrow. The pictures in the book he'd borrowed from Jun had made it look so simple, but the corresponding directions had been surprisingly complicated. Ohno has always considered himself to be artistically inclined (or at least that's what his mother always told him), but rice is an unfamiliar medium to him. And instead of a cute little hamster face staring up at him from the bento box, there is something concerningly _oni_ -like.

The doorbell rings again, and this time Ohno is startled enough by it to forgot his onigiri and go to answer it. When the door swings open, it's Nino standing on his doorstep, eyes shining and mouth quirked into an impish smile.

“Yo,” Nino says, raising a hand in greeting. “Nice apron.”

Ohno gives only the briefest of glances down at the front of the pink bunny covered apron he forget he was wearing, before his gaze snaps back up. “Ni – Nino. Why – how did you find me?”

Nino shrugs, casually scuffs his sneaker against the door jam. “I looked up your address on the Internet. You know you should really be more proactive in protecting your privacy. Anyone could come knocking at your door. Can I come in?”

“You can’t,” says Ohno quickly and too loudly. He winces as his words echo around the small entryway. He lowers his voice and says, “It’s – you can’t right now.”

“Ah.” Nino nods his head, peering over Ohno’s shoulder into the house. “Is your daughter asleep already? That’s too bad. I thought I might say hi. Guess it can’t be helped since she has school tomorrow, huh?”

Ohno's mind is whirring dizzily as he tries to process everything that Nino is saying - Nino, who he thought he'd never see again, and who instead is now standing on his doorstep asking him about his daughter.

“You - you know I have a daughter? _It says that on the Internet_?”

Nino’s laugh is surprisingly boyish, and despite Ohno’s confusion, the sound of it still sends a warm ripple up his spine.

“Nah, nothing like that,” Nino assures him. “Aiba-san told me. He told me your address too, if it makes you feel better. There’s nothing about you on the Internet – I checked."

When Ohno only blinks back at him blankly, Nino grins again.

“Aibashi and I have been friends since middle school," he explains, answering the question Ohno hasn't been able to form the words to yet. "Seems like you and that idiot are in the same Single Papas Club. I said I wanted to see you again, and he helped me out.”

Ohno hasn't a clue how to reply to that, to any of that, but he doesn't get a chance to anyway.

"Satoshi-kun," a small voice calls out from behind him. Ohno turns to find Haruka there, rubbing her eyes sleepily. “What's going on?” she asks.

Nino steps forward to the very edge of the genkan, smiling as he crouches down to Haruka's level. “Haruka-chan, sorry to wake you," he says sweetly. "But I'm glad because I really wanted to meet you. I'm Kazu. You can call me Kazu-nii, okay?"

"Kazu-nii," Haruka repeats, with only the slightest bit of hesitation, her dark eyes looking Nino over thoughtfully.

"Right," says Nino, encouragingly. "And who's this?" he asks, pointing to the fluffy stuffed hamster Haruka has clutched under one arm.

"Sen-chan," she tells him, shifting the hamster forward and holding him out a little.

Nino slips smoothly out of his sneakers and steps into the house to take one of the hamster's stubby paws in his hand. "Nice to meet you, Sen-chan," he says, very seriously, as he shakes it.

Haruka giggles.

Nino is smiling as he stands up, putting a gentle hand on Haruka's shoulder as he begins to usher her back towards the living room. "Haruka-chan, Sen-chan, do you like magic tricks?”

"Yes!" Haruka exclaims enthusiastically.

Ohno watches them go, wondering vaguely when he invited Nino in, if he invited Nino in. He closes the front door and follows after them into the house.

After all, Ohno likes magic tricks too.

 

*

 

“Wow, you’re good with kids, huh?” Ohno says, a little in awe, as Nino quietly closes the door to the bedroom behind them, Haruka tucked into bed and fast asleep on the other side.

Nino shrugs, but there's some smugness in the gesture. “They like me, that’s all. I used to babysit for my neighbors a lot growing up. It’s good money, you know." He makes his way back into the living room, once again treating the place as his own while Ohno follows after him. "Speaking of which, it’s time to settle up my payment.”

Ohno frowns, forehead creasing with confusion. “Payment?”

Nino nods. He stops in front of the couch, raising a hand and ticking off fingers with the air of complicated mental calculations as he continues. “Hmm, four magic tricks, two bedtime stories. Tuck-in service." He drops his hand, then smirks. "I’d say you owe me a lot.”

“ _Ehh_? But - " Ohno starts, completely bewildered.

So bewildered that he barely registers the way Nino is moving closer and closer to him, far past the polite parameters of personal space. Then Nino is pushing him backwards into the couch. Then Nino is kissing him, eager and demanding, until Ohno feels dizzy from it, kissing back in kind as Nino hums appreciatively into the back of his throat.

“That should cover the magic tricks," Nino says breathlessly when he finally pulls away some time later. "You can pay me in installments." He stands up, the littlest bit shaky on his feet, before he turns back to Ohno, eyes dark and twinkling beneath the mess Ohno's made of his hair. "Same time tomorrow?”


	9. Episode 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sakurai-sensei appears! Takes place sometime in the near future...

“Good morning, Haruka-chan~!” says Sho-sensei with his usual enthusiasm, kneeling down to greet Haruka as she enters the classroom. “Woooow, your hair looks veeeeery pretty today! Did Matsumoto-san do it for you this morning?”  
  
Haruka shakes her head, her two unusually neat little top buns, today tied with yellow ribbon, bouncing happily as she does so. “Kazu-nii did it,” she tells him proudly.  
  
Sho-sensei’s eyebrows furrow in confusion. “Kazu-nii?” he asks.  
  
“Kazu-nii is Satoshi-kun’s special friend,” Haruka explains as she takes off her red school bag and hangs it carefully in her cubby.  
  
“A special friend?” Sho-sensei repeats, now even more dubious.  
  
“Mm,” says Haruka, working diligently at undoing each flower-shaped button of her coat. “Kazu-nii says you can tell that he’s a special friend because Satoshi-kun gets all red in the face whenever Kazu-nii is around.” She pauses thoughtful, then adds, “but I think Kazu-nii is a special friend because he makes Satoshi-kun happy.”  
  
“Well,” says Sho-sensei. “That’s a nice thing. But when did Kazu-nii have time to do your hair for you?”  
  
Haruka slips her coat off her arms and hangs it next to her bag. She reaches up to rub her eyes, looking a little sleepy. “Yesterday Kazu-nii stayed at our house aaalll night and in the morning he did my hair for me.”  
  
Sho-sensei frowns. “I see. Maybe Sensei needs to have another conversation with Satoshi-kun, one about having overnight guests on a school night.”  
  
“I don't mind when he does. When Satoshi-kun is happy, Haruka-chan is happy," she says with a brilliant smile.  
  
At that, Sho-sensei’s serious expression drops, at least for the moment, as he can't help but smile back. He reaches out to pat her on the head, but seeing the two perfect buns there, thinks better of it. "You love Satoshi-kun a lot, don't you, Haruka-chan?” he says to her affectionately.  
  
“Mm,” says Haruka with a yawn and goes to take her seat in the classroom.


End file.
